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Rumors of secession spreads across the nation, alarming senators to attempt a compromise. Lincoln said that he would not interfere with slavery in the South, and declared no compromise was to be made. Meanwhile, delegates in the South came together and voted for the Union’s dissolvement, joining with 6 other states together as the Confederate States of America.

Source: “Confederate States of America”, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Confederate-States-of-America

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#14 Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President 

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#14 Abraham Lincoln Is Elected President 

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In the election of 1860, Lincoln won the presidential election with only 40 percent of the votes, all from the North. To the white Southerners, the election told everybody that the South was now the minority, standing with little power in the Union. They feared the time when Congress would finally abolish slavery. Without slavery, Southerners felt a lack of power, property, home, and liberty, which led to the events of their secession from the Union.

Source: “The Most Consequential Elections in History: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860”, US News, https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/07/23/abraham-lincoln-and-the-election-of-1860

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Politics were Lincoln’s method of fighting to stop slavery, abolitionist John Brown used more extreme approaches. Brown planned to seize the federal arsenal, instead of waiting for Congress to act. He wanted to use the stolen weapons to start a rebellion to end slavery. The raid was launched in 1859, and all of his men were captured or killed. On the day of Brown’s hanging, his last words filled the white Southerners with fear, threatened with bloodshed if there was ever a slavery rebellion.

Source: “John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Raid”, Civil War Trust, https://www.civilwar.org/learn/collections/john-browns-harpers-ferry-raid (.org)

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In the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln’s enemy was Douglas, who saw nothing wrong with a divided nation. Douglas argued that the Dred-Scott Decision already settled the on growing slavery issues, while Lincoln disagreed, loosing the election. He soon became a national figure, due to all the coverage of his debates. The debate brought the moral issue of slavery to the attention of the nation. As time passed, the making of compromises over slavery became more and more difficult.

Source: “Historical Analysis of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates”, Purdue University, https://www.cla.purdue.edu/academic/history/course/debate/lincolndouglas/LincolnDouglas.html (.edu)

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The Dred-Scott Decision made in 1857 that stated that the African Americans could never become legal U.S. citizens, and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The controversy soon transferred to the Supreme Court, on a case concerning a Missouri slave named Dred-Scott, who argued his freedom whilst traveling to Wisconsin with his owner. Chief Justice Taney hoped to use the Scott case to settle all the controversies that were for/against slavery, even freeing his own slaves. Later on, the court decided that Scott could not sue for freedom because he was not a legal citizen. Taney also argued that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and that banning slavery in the territory was the same as taking property from the slaveholders who would like to bring their slaves into that territory. The Dred-Scott Decision pleased the Southerners, while it enraged the Northerners.

Source: “Dred-Scott Decision”, Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/event/Dred-Scott-decision

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Senator Charles Sumner saw the violent disturbances as proof that Douglas had planned to make Kansas a slave state. In a passionate speech called "The Crime Against Kansas," Sumner explained that the Southern settlers "compelled it to the hateful embrace of slavery"(The Crime Against Kansas, Sumner). But, Sumner's intentions were not perceived as clear, for many saw it as dying in the memory  of enraged Southerners. Two days after his speech, Sumner was brutally beat with a metal-tipped cane, in the Senate by Preston Brooks. The country became very divided and it was portrayed in the reactions to the attack. Southerners started to applaud Brooks for defending his side, while the Northerners perceived it as outrageous Southern brutality.

Source: “In the Congressional Fight Over Slavery, Decorum Went Out the Door”, Smithsonian, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/tempers-ran-so-hot-congress-one-senator-was-nearly-beaten-death-180962111/

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After Nebraska-Kansas Act was passed, peaceful farmers, abolitionists, and other settlers poured into Kansas. Northern abolitionists sent their young men to Kansas, and hope to support anti-slavery. But the South also sent their men to do the same for slavery. Soon, Kansas had two competing governments, slavery and anti-slavery. The arguments over slavery turned violent, Some pro-slavery settlers burning hotels, invading and looting several homes, and throwing abolitionist newspapers into a river. This caused uproar in the northern states, causing abolitionists to plot revenge. They invaded the pro-slavery settlers town, packing them to death with swords, ultimately causing violent and vengeful chaos.

Source: Britannica Kids, https://kids.britannica.com/students/assembly/view/96172

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Nebraska-Kansas Act created the Kansas and Nebraska territories while abolishing the Missouri compromise by allowing the settlers to choose whether slavery was accepted in the new territories. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the creator of the bill, called it popular sovereignty, or rule by the people. Once again, the Northerners still saw visions of ruthless slavery and slave labor after the act was placed. Douglas attempted to calm the storms by telling them that Kansas and Nebraska were not suited to slave labor. Many northerners thought that the statement was a joke, for Kansas is surrounded by Missouri around its entire length, and with a “whole tier of slave countries leaning against it”(Greely, New York Tribune). Greely implied that Kansas, a newly admitted state residing beside many slaves-stricken states, it is most likely not to give into slavery.

Source: "Shifting Political Landscapes during Lincoln's Presidency", PBS, American Experience, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lincolns-political-landscape/

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Even though  northerners and Southerners disagreed on almost everything, they both agreed that the Fugitive Slave Act only worsened the debates and peace, but for different reasons. Well the Northerners refused to enforce the act, Southerners felt the act did not ensure the return of their property, which were slaves. Under the act, the runaway slaves had almost no legal rights. They fled to Canada, or stirred up and  well the Northerners refused to enforce the act, Southerners felt the act did not ensure the return of their property, which were slaves. Under the act, the runaway slaves had almost no legal rights. They fled to Canada, or stood up and fought. The act also stated that any person who assists escapement of a slave is vulnerable to become jailed. Northerners refused to support the act, making the enforcement almost impossible. During the 1850’s, only 299 fugitives were captured and returned to slaveholders.

Source: Newsela, “The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850”, https://newsela.com/read/primary-source-fugitive-slave-act/id/18345/

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The Compromise of 1850, 20 years after the first, was the agreements  to admit California as a free state, while the New Mexico and Utah territories could decide to allow slavery, which creates a stronger fugitive slave law. Henry Clay, a senator from Kentucky, had a plan/compromise that begin by admitting California as a free state, to please the New Mexico and Utah territories could decide to allow slavery, which creates a stronger fugitive slave law. Henry Clay, a senator from Kentucky, had a plan/compromise that begin by admitting California as a free state, to please the North. Next, it allowed New Mexico and Utah territories to decide whether to accept slavery, pleasing the South. Additionally, slaves would no longer be allowed to be sold and traded in the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. Finally, his plan proposed the making of a strong fugitive law,  which would make it easier to find and reclaim runaways. For nine months, Congress debated the compromise,  causing the south to talk of leaving the Union peacefully. Congress finally adopted Clay’s plan, which most saw as a relief, To see the crisis be resolved. However, some southerners were still unsure about the compromise.

Source: "Shifting Political Landscapes during Lincoln's Presidency", PBS, American Experience, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lincolns-political-landscape/ (.org)

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Congress debated what to do about slavery that rose in the territories gained from the Mexican-American War. The North and South were divided on the Mexican-American Cession; and whether or not to open it to slavery. To compromise, the South proposed a bill to extend the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific (California), but Northern Congressmen rejected the proposal. Later, California applied for admission as a free state, which the per two sides had divided opinions on. Southerners warned that California’s admittance to the Union as a free state would disrupt the balance between the slave and free states, creating an uneven amount. Once again, Southerners spoke confidently about withdrawing from the United States, while Northerners stuck firmly of their beliefs of slavery.

Source: “The Compromise of 1850”, U.S. History: An Uneasy Peace, http://www.ushistory.org/us/30d.asp (.org)

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The gag rule kept the slavery issues out for 10 years. During the war with Mexico, President James Polk sent a bill asking for funding. Additionally, David Wilmot added an amendment known as the Wilmot Proviso, which stated that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist," in any territory acquired from the Mexican-american War. Southerners strongly disapproved of his amendment, arguing that Congress had no right to decide where slaveholders could take their property. The amendment ended up being rejected by the Senate.

Source: “David Wilmot”, National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/people/david-wilmot.htm (.gov)

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Even though Nat Turner's rebellion was the last large slave revolt, individual slaves continued to rebel by running to the freedoms of the North. But they could not escape on their own, for sympathetic Northerners aided the fugitives to freedom. The slaveholders saw this movement as unfair and that it robbed them of their property. Soon, many slaveholders demanded that Congress has to pass a fugitive slave law to recapture their land.

Source: "Fugitive Slaves", Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/fugitive-slave

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John Quincy Adams was correct when stating that the Missouri Compromise would only temporarily silence the talk of slavery. The Second Great Awakening inspired many leaders of the religious revival to take up the Lord's work of abolition of slavery, because they believed it was their faith and duty. The abolitionists flooded congress with antislavery petitions, but they responded by voting to set aside the petitions, soon called the "Gag Rule" because it silenced all congressional debate over slavery. But Congress' efforts to silence the abolitionists failed, and they continued to attack slavery in the media; books, newspapers, and at public meetings. Soon, the Southerners' resentment turned into fear, causing them to tighten the laws. Stricter laws were placed to control the movement of slaves, and money was offered to people who convicted and arrested abolitionists.

Source: “Did Abolitionists Cause the Civil War?”, The Abolition Seminar, ‘A political cartoon satirizing the enforcement of the “gag-rule”’, http://www.abolitionseminar.org/did-abolitionists-cause-the-civil-war/ (.org)

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The Missouri Compromise was an agreement made by Congress in which Missouri was admitted to the Union as a slave state and Maine was admitted as a free state. The compromise was made to avoid the conflicts between the Congress and the Southerners, to the point where the Southerners threatened secession and civil war. Congress finally agreed to compromise, maintaining the balance of power between slave and free states. In the end, the reactions to the compromise were divided; because the the Northerners called the Congress "traitors", while the Southern slaveholders deeply resented the ban of slavery, for they depended on it. But John Quincy Adams recognized that the compromise had not settled the future of slavery as a whole, only partially and temporarily resting the riots.

Source: "Shifting Political Landscapes During Lincoln's Presidency", PBS, American Experience, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/lincolns-political-landscape/